1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for dispensing beverages in a hospitality or other commercial setting, as well as in residential or consumer applications, and, more particularly, to the measurement of, automated pour control, and metered dispensing of beverages under pressure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recent demographic changes are modifying the pattern of consumption in adult beverages throughout the United States. The Millennial generation (also known as Millennials or Generation Y) are the demographic cohort following Generation X. There are no precise dates when the generation starts and ends, but it is commonly identified as those birth years ranging from the early 1980s to the early 2000s, which includes the youngest legal drinkers. This social cohort are consuming more wine than previous generations when they turn legal drinking age. As a result, wine makers and distributors across the U.S. are seeing both more overall demand, as well as a change in the types of wine they produce. Other changes include the packaging used, as well as market tools to connect their brand with their customers.
One area where this demand is currently placing pressure on current beverage distribution systems is at event venues such as stadiums, arenas and high volume entertainment facilities Beverage delivery of prior preferred beverages has evolved to include bulk containers, distribution tubes or hoses, and dispensing taps or fountains. This can be seen in the delivery of first soft drinks, and then beer.
Because of the nature of soft drinks, technology was adapted to satisfy the post mixing of syrup, water and carbon dioxide in bulk distribution to satisfy dispensing of soft drinks in a manner currently efficient enough for mass venues. As beer became an adult beverage of choice of prior demographic cohort, technology was adapted to eventually satisfy the cleaning, delivery, dispensing and changing of bulk keg beer products. However, these prior bulk beverage delivery systems do not lend themselves directly to the dispensed delivery of wine. Additionally, no existing systems exactly measure the volume of beverages they dispense, but rather make approximations based on weight and/or time. Such approximations lack sufficient precision and can lose their calibration over time.
Beer and wine contain alcohol, and as such are carefully regulated and their distribution carefully controlled and taxed. Further, unlike beer and soda, wine is typically poured to fill only half the glass, rather than the entire glass. Consequently, there is a high tendency to “over pour” and controlled and consistent metering of individual servings is highly desired by the retail vendor to minimize and eliminate such “over pouring”. While similar motivations exist for beer, due to the carbonated nature of beer products the amount of waste or commercial spoilage is quite different. Consumers tend to place a lot of importance on beer heads: too much of a head is undesirable because it detracts from the mass of the drink (similar to carbonated soda drinks). But, on the other hand, a beer drink is viewed as incomplete unless it has some head, and there is an expectation of a specific form of head based on the type of beer. Consequently, the automated metering, monitoring and control of beer beverage dispensing currently already estimates between a 5%-15% allocation or credit to accommodate for the inability to exactly meter the liquid and its associated foam.
However, the problem associated with the metering of an “exact” pour is exaggerated, and quite different, with wine. Wine does not foam, has a higher tax value, has a smaller serving size, and is served in stemware in which the cup or bowl is served only partially filled. As an example, a wine glass as defined by the International Standards Organization (ISO) has a capacity of approximately 215 ml, but it is intended to take a 50 ml pour. While other types of wine stemware have differences in shape and size, generally such drink ware lend themselves easily to “over pouring”, or dispensing serving amounts in excess of a desired standard. Such overages in the dispensing of wine can easily reach up to between 25%-50%.
Consequently, the need to provide a standardized beverage dispensing system particularly adapted for use in dispensing metered volumes of wine is needed.
“Wine on Tap” is a distribution method for wine that has been developed for high volume dispensing and service applications. However, at an extreme event, such as a professional baseball event servicing 10,000-20,000 spectators, or a professional football event servicing 40,000-60,000 spectators, or a professional soccer event servicing upwards of 100,000 spectators all at a single venue, such systems still exhibit problems associated with consistency of pour, while providing ease of line cleaning and simplicity of keg changeover. In such systems, a typical process of delivering beverage to the customer is controlled by an operator (bartender) through a manual interface. The operator is responsible for the quality and the volume of each portion. For beverages that tend to oxidize, such as wine, the operator is supposed to flash (discharge to waste) one or several portions of the beverage from the delivery line before supplying the good portion to the customer. This manual system relies on the operator only and does not guarantee neither the quality nor the consistency of the required volume size of the beverage portion.
Some methods and devices are known that incorporate various mechanisms for identifying the automated dispensing and metering of beverages as well as determining volumes of keg beverages. For example:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,976,222, issued in the name of Spagnolo, describes a metering device capable of selectively dispensing beverages from several holding tanks. The device includes a counter that identifies the number of beverages, and is intended to deliver a predetermined quantity of the beverage on each pour. However, the quantity is determined through a timed pour urged by hydrostatic head, and not a volumetric measure. Further, the system does not accommodate either flashing or ease of cleaning.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,371,478, issued in the name of Sommerfield et al., describes a system for delivering a pressurized inert gas into wine bottles for dispensing the contents therefrom out through a spigot or tap. However, the system is specifically adapted for use with wine bottles and does not accommodate bulk containers, and merely provides a dispensing urging force and in no way aids in quantity measurement.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,450,987, issued in the name of Boettcher et al., describes a portion control liquid dispenser for delivering cream or non-diary cream substitute in metered volumes from a temperature controlled tank. The system, however, merely dispenses the gravity fed contents from a containment tank, and again estimates volume through the predetermined timed opening of a solenoid valve.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,022,557, issued in the name of Turner, describes a computerized beverage dispensing system that has a flow meter between a pressurized beverage container and a tap or faucet. The system is intended to provide consistency of pour at a preselected volume. Again, while volume is determined through the time measured opening of the dispensing valve, this particular system attempts to improve accuracy through compensation of the time based on the temperature and backpressure of the fluid.
U.S. Patent Publication 2013/0081443, published in the name of Rasmussen et al., describes a method of determining the volume of pressurized beverage in a collapsible beverage container. This system calculates the amount dispensed by measuring volume differentials between deliveries.
U.S. Patent Publication 2012/0059513, published in the name of Perkins et al., describes a beverage dispensing and monitoring system that is purportedly for identifying fluid flow characteristics for external data acquisition. While the reference fails to enable such controls or electronics, the claims appear to be concentrated on the in-line, quick connect nature of the sensor package.
And finally, an international patent publication published as WO 02/48018 describes (in French) a dose dispensing system for wine.
While each of the above references may include some features that are incorporated in part or in combination in the present invention, none provide for an adequate solution to the problem(s) at hand. It is preferable that in a beverage dispensing and pour control system for use with keg wine or other bulk regulated beverage management should have the ability to control the quality and quantity of servings delivered by the operator. The suggested beverage dispensing and pour control system should also provide precise measurement of each portion—not imprecise measurements based on time or weight. Further, such a beverage dispensing and pour control system should warn the operator about beverage tank low level, allow for force flashing of the poor quality beverage and record all the delivery process events in the log for the management.